Jones

Target has named Jeffrey J. Jones II as its new EVP and chief marketing officer, effective immediately. Jones comes to the retailer from McKinney, a Durham, N.C.-based advertising agency, where he served as partner and president. Prior to that Jones served as EVP and chief marketing officer at Gap Inc.

RadioShack will extend their free phone promotion, originally unveiled for Black Friday, through the end of the year, Dow Jones Newswires reported Monday. Customers who sign up for a wireless contract get to choose from a selection of 20 free phones.

Two headlines caught my attention this week. The first one reported that the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index continued its downward trend in May to a 16-year low. The Index now stands at 57.2, down from 62.8 in April. The second story read “Gap Turns Lean and Mean” and reported on the company’s 40 percent hike in first-quarter profits. Despite a sharp 11 percent decline in same store sales, tightened inventory and cost-cutting, along with improved gross margins, helped increase the chain’s bottom line. An article by Bob Prosen, “Leading During Turbulent Times,” in The CEO Refresher spoke to the challenge of leading

Two headlines caught my attention this week. The first one reported that the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index continued its downward trend in May to a 16-year low. The Index now stands at 57.2, down from 62.8 in April. The second story read “Gap Turns Lean and Mean,” and reported on the company’s 40 percent hike in first-quarter profits. Despite a sharp 11 percent decline in same store sales, tightened inventory and cost-cutting, along with improved gross margins, helped improve the chain’s bottom line. You can believe the sky is falling or you can do whatever it takes to thrive and grow

Mention Internet Protocol (IP) to plenty of custom audio and video installers and you’ll likely solicit a slew of reactions, some of which may not be very kind. While IT professionals have long been hip to digital comeuppance, plenty of CE dealers aren’t necessarily ready to toss aside their speaker wire for what they see as nothing more than a glorified computer network. Whether one likes it or not, this difference of opinion nevertheless signals an important change in the industry compared to just a few short years ago, when the idea of IP-based home entertainment was considered far more theoretical than practical.